Politics

The British Countryside Alliance has lost its legal bid to keep hunting with hounds after the High Court rejected their appeal, which had been made on the grounds that the Parliament Act 1949 was invalid. The High Court rejected this, ruling that the 1949 Act was valid. This means hunting with dogs for foxes, hares and badgers will be illegal from Friday 18 February in England and Wales in accordance with the Hunting Act 2004. The Countryside Alliance has said it is challenging the decision in the House of Lords (the highest court in English L

A funeral procession several kilometers long wound its way through the Lebanese capital of Beirut for the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri yesterday. Mr Hariri was assassinated three days ago, on the 14th of February, when explosives equivalent to approximately 300 kg of TNT were detonated as his motorcade drove past the St George Hotel in the Lebanese capital. The hundreds of thousands of mourners in the funeral procession were convinced that the assassination was carried out by the Syrian government and used the opportunity to voice their a

A lack of thorough and consistent measures to pick the White House press corps members has led many to question the reason a little-known conservative reporter had access to sensitive documents and the President of the United States. Jeff Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, has been operating under an assumed name while attending White House press briefings. Gannon/Guckert was a reporter for the news service Talon News, a website believed by some to be a branch of the GOPUSA, up until his recent resignation due to the incidents surroundi

After five hours of meeting, the presidents Hugo Chávez from Venezuela and Alvaro Uribe from Colombia put a end to the diplomatic tension that had completed two months. The crisis started with the alleged irregular arrest (according to Venezuela) of the FARC guerrilla Rodrigo Granda by Colombian authorities. President Chavez said: "We have decided to turn the page so we can fix the things that were misadjusted, clarify the things that could be clouded and work together in the construction for the common people". The meeting was scheduled f

A large blast on the seafront of west Beirut, Lebanon has killed several people, including former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Current reports conflict on the total number of casualties, suggesting nine or ten people killed and around 100 injured. Hariri was travelling in a car in a motorcade when the explosion occurred around 1pm local time. His bullet-proof car was totally destroyed. The attack took place near the luxurious Saint George hotel, in a residential neighborhood. The cause of the blast is currently unknown for certain but it is b

On Friday thousands of Somalis made a peaceful protest in Mogadishu against the planned deployment of African Union troops into the country. The Islamic Courts' Union, the Umbrella organisation of Islamic Clerics and the supporters of two warlords-turned-cabinet ministers, Husein Aideed and Osman Ali Ato organised the demonstration. Many of the protestors claimed to reject the intervention of foreign troops on grounds of faith. The African Union plans on deploying troops forming a Peace Support Mission to support the return of Somalians from

Howard Dean was elected the chairman of the Democratic Party of the United States on Saturday. The former governor of Vermont and a presidential candidate in the 2004 elections was chosen by a voice vote of the 447-member Democratic National Committee. Dean replaces Terry McAuliffe as chairman of the committee. The election of Dean to the post reflects the party's trust in his accomplishments during the presidential campaign. As a candidate, Dean mobilized support from across the country in his Dean for America campaign, using the Internet as

After a week of heavy rain and snow, the Shakidor Dam near the coast of the southwestern Pakistan province of Baluchistan burst around 6:00 pm local time. So far, at least seventy people have died after five villages were swept away. Many bodies have been recovered by Coast Guard vessels sweeping the sea off the affected area with fishing nets. Provincial Minister Sher Jan Baloch announced troops have been called out for rescue operations. "The army has started rescue operations to try to save as many lives as possible." While over 1,000 have

The new leader of Togo, the late president Gnassingbé Eyadéma's son, Faure Gnassingbé, pledged to hold "free and transparent elections which reflect the will of the people" as soon as possible, though he did not mention a specific timeframe, nor did he address international criticism of his ascession to power. Togolese politics have become a subject of criticism by the African Union, the European Union and the United Nations after the death of Eyadéma late last week. Eyadéma was Africa's longest-ruling leader whose 38-year rule was marked by

Saudis are voting today in the country's first municipal elections that have been held in the Kingdom. This is first time democratic elections have been conducted in the Kingdom and as many as 100 candidates have been put forward per seat in the capital, Riyadh. There has been rows over whether women should be allowed to vote or stand in these elections and if there will any major changes in policy as only 50% of seats are being contested.

Copenhagen – The Danish people have voted to keep the current centre-right political coalition of the Venstre (The Liberal Party), Det Konservative Folkeparti (Conservative People's Party) and the Dansk Folkeparti (Danish People's Party). Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal Party retained the largest number of seats in parliament. The governing coalition between the Liberals and Conservative People's Party remained intact. They will likely be supported largely by the Danish People's Party, which gained 2 seats. The Radikale Venstre

The pre-trial hearings in the trial of the pop singer Michael Jackson have begun the process of jury selection. An initial jury selection of 4,000 people has been narrowed down to 250 by Judge Rodney Melville and the prosecution and defence attorneys. The process of selecting the final 12 jurors and eight stand-by-jurors will continue on February 14th, following the death in the family of Jackson's lead defence lawyer. Jackson, 46, is accused of child molestation in a case which is expected to last up to six months.